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Music Theory Lessons for Volunteers

Communicating at your mid-week rehearsal can sometimes feel like you are building the Tower of Babel. Somewhere between avoiding the key your piano player hates and Nashville numbers, you can feel like everyone is on a different page.

Thankfully “music” is a language that can learned by any musician. Many people who serve faithfully in the church have no formal music background which can make it hard to talk to them about things such as how capos work, or transpose a song on the fly. These two theory lessons will help define common musical terms such as whole steps, half steps, major scale, minor scale, using capos, transposing for capos, and common chords in every key.

Our lessons below show how to use “Nashville Numbers” which is very helpful when a a capo-ed guitarist is talking to the rest of the band about what chord he/she is playing or when learning how to transpose.

If someone in your band or team does have formal musical training, encourage them to pass it on in ways that are helpful, not condescending. Ask for referrals to music teachers in your community that understand the worship environment of a typical church.

You can download for free some of the lessons we use below. These are targeted to help new musicians understand basic concepts and help you find the short cuts in the musical language without having everyone take a year long college theory class.